


Stumble, Stumble (Fall in Love)

by Stina0098



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, a lot of stumbling and sehun being flustered
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-19 02:57:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11888502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stina0098/pseuds/Stina0098
Summary: "You know," Kyungsoo says, "when I said you could come to me if you needed help, I expected it to have to do with chickens, not with your love life."In which Sehun is a stuck up, idol brat who is never grateful for anything he has and gets sent to a farm to learn the harder ways of life. Sehun is furious, but the cute farm boy, Junmyeon, keeps catching his attention and makes him think that maybe it won't be that bad after all.





	Stumble, Stumble (Fall in Love)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bbubbleddae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbubbleddae/gifts), [oneforyourfire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneforyourfire/gifts).



> thank you to the mods for arranging xunmians this year as well, and to bbubbelddae for the lovely prompt! i had a lot of fun writing it! c:

 

 

Technically, Sehun thinks, it was _all_ Jongin’s fault.

He’d had one job as Sehun’s designated best friend, and that had been to _not_ , by any reason, buy him decaffeinated coffee at 2 am in the morning unless he had _specifically_ asked for it. And since Sehun was rarely up at 2 am just for the fun of it on a Friday morning, that was not something that regularly occurred.

Jongin was many things, but he was not very observant, and Sehun found that Jongin had failed his one job miserably when he took a sip of the bitter drink that he relied on to give him life early in the morning and remained the same tired, grumpy person he had been since he’d woken up. And while Sehun prided himself on a lot of things as the nation’s flower boy (mostly for having been born with a perfect face and an equally perfect ass), he was not going to be cute in front of his fans running on 3 hours of sleep and half a Brussel sprout unless he had a whole lot caffeine in his system.

Unfortunately, a whole lot of caffeine could not be found in the sad excuse of a beverage he’d forced Jongin to give to him as he’d muttered something about how Sehun should have been happy their parents had forced them to spend much time together as babies and that he was heading back to sleep.

So _yes_ , okay, maybe forcing his manager do a U-turn while on their way to Music Bank just so that he could go to one of the few cafés that were still open at that time wasn’t the best idea Sehun’d had, but as already established, it was technically Jongin’s fault. And by the same logic, it was also Jongin’s fault that they had gotten stuck in traffic on their way back and had needed to speed the last 20 minutes to avoid being irrevocably late.

It _isn’t_ Jongin’s fault, his CEO thinks, that they’d crashed their car into the Music Bank PD’s brand new sports car in their hurry. In fact, Sehun realises, he doesn’t seem to think it’s Jongin’s fault at _all_ , face turning the same shade of red Sehun had dyed his hair for his latest comeback.

"You should be lucky his daughter is a fan of yours!” His CEO growls, “Otherwise you’d be blacklisted! Maybe never even able to go on a KBS-program ever again!"

Sehun tries his best --and fails-- not to roll his eyes, thinking that Jongin will need a small miracle for him not to revoke his status as Sehun’s Best Friend.

"He was the one who bought the expensive car in the first place," Sehun explains. "Getting a scratch on it is just a part of daily city life. He should move to the country side if he is that sensitive."

Sehun watches as his CEO miraculously seems to turn even redder in what Sehun is suspecting isn’t anger but rather some weird, spontaneous allergy attack. Sehun is about to helpfully suggest that maybe this conversation can be resumed at a later time so he can go and see a doctor, but the man in question speaks again before he has the chance to.

" _He’s_ not the one who’s going to be moving to the country side. That person will be _you_."

Sehun frowns, words dying on his tongue.

"What are you talking about?"

"I’ve had enough!” His CEO cries. “I’m sending you away from this city! No more managers doing your laundry or waking up at 3 am to cook you food! You’re going to have to learn to take care of yourself and become more humble!"

Sehun doesn’t follow.

"So I’m going to Busan or...?"

"You’re going to a farm!" He exclaims. "As soon as your promotions are over I don’t want you anywhere near Seoul! And it’s staying that way until you’ve learnt something!"

Sehun is only mildly worried.

It’s not the first time his CEO has threatened to send him somewhere. Last year he’d threatened to ship him out to a remote island and leave him there if he didn’t stop making passive aggressive comments to the stylist who had tried to put him in a pair of cowboy boots.

It was still a sore subject for Sehun.

"Alright," Sehun finally says, playing along because he has much better things to do than to sit and get yelled at. "You’re right, I went too far. My promotions are ending this week either way, so I might as well leave as soon as possible. I need to get my head straight."

He is met with shock and surprise, the man’s eyebrows rising before they narrow slightly in what Sehun thinks is suspicion. Sehun just blinks at him, giving him what he hopes is an innocent face that would have probably worked better if he wasn’t famous for his cold face. Eventually he seems to find that Sehun is genuine, and relaxes.

"Okay...Great. Be packed and ready to leave by tomorrow."

Sehun nods --barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes again-- and believes the whole thing to be a mere scare tactic until he’s home and logs into his secret twitter account (@bootifulsehun) only to see that his fans are all worriedly tweeting that his promotions for his latest comeback have all been cancelled. With a growing sense of dread, he scrolls through the tweets until he finds a link to an article stating that he’ll be taking a break due to personal reasons and hopes to get everyone’s support.

And then he freaks out.

Since Jongin isn’t even worthy of hearing his voice after the Great Coffee Fiasco (GCF) and his manager has gone on an indefinite vacation due to it, Sehun finds himself calling his make-up artist. He is someone who knows everything about everyone, and although Sehun is a little bit scared of him --thinking that it isn’t safe to have that much power and knowledge of the people in the industry--, he doesn’t know who else to call.

Baekhyun only bursts into laughter when Sehun finishes explaining everything, and Sehun would hang up if he had anyone else to talk to about the situation (he doesn’t).

"You know, when your stylist suggested for you to have a cowboy concept last year I didn’t know your CEO would take it literally."

Sehun makes a sound like he’s dying.

"You have to _help me_ , hyung. I can’t be on a _farm_. The only reason I became an idol was so that I could spend most of my time indoors. Going without an air conditioner is going to ruin my hair."

Sehun hears Baekhyun cackling, and even though he can’t see Baekhyun’s expression he can practically feel how amused Baekhyun is by this situation. Baekhyun could probably stop his CEO with a snap of his fingers, but Sehun realises that he won’t just for the fun of it. A few seconds later he’s proven correct.

"Have fun milking cows, cowboy."

Sehun sulks and responds with something that rhymes with "you can go duck your shelf" that he’ll probably regret saying to Baekhyun in the far future and hangs up. His phone call to his CEO isn’t any more successful despite threats that he won’t pack a suitcase and that there is _no way_ he will ever even step a foot on a farm. Instead he is only told that he can just as easily borrow clothes from the farm if he refuses to bring his own.

Sehun imagines himself wearing a straw hat and nearly passes out.

He spends the night angrily packing, not necessarily sure what to bring but also knowing that he’s not a renowned fashionista for nothing. He packs a few high-end jeans, a pair of Gucci loafers that he had received a week earlier and consoles himself by thinking that he’s probably not going to be staying at the farm for a long time either way --his CEO probably only making him go there as a statement and rescuing him a day or two later.

When he thinks about it, it isn’t impossible that they’re sending him to one of those farm retreats he had read about in a magazine, where he can pet all the animals he wants and spend his days sleeping in a hammock.

In fact, Sehun begins to think, it’ll probably be like a much needed vacation. A place where he can walk around without any fans following him and take plenty of Instagram pictures.

Maybe it’ll be relaxing.

Maybe he won’t have to punch Jongin after at all.

 

***

 

The farm is not a retreat.

"This will be your room."

Sehun stares at a tiny room empty of anything other than a bed that looks like it had its best days fifteen years ago and attempts not to wince.

"Where’s the bathroom?" Sehun asks, "The wardrobe? A mirror?"

"We get our water from a well," the farmer who was put in charge of showing Sehun his room answers shortly. He’s a weather bitten man called Jinhyun and had only shook his head when Sehun had gotten out of the car with an umbrella to protect himself from the sun and asked if he was a vampire. When Sehun had said no --that he was simply using it because he didn’t want wrinkles like Jinhyun had -- their relationship hadn’t really prospered.

"These days our water supply hasn’t been good so if you want to bathe you’ll have to get the water yourself or go down to the lake to swim. There are three outhouses if you need to go to the bathroom."

Sehun stares at Jinhyun in horror, and takes back anything he’d said about maybe not punching Jongin. Sehun isn’t only going to punch Jongin. He’s going to kill him.

Preferably with something blunt and over a long period of time.

"There’s no water..." Sehun repeats weakly. He’d even brought his expensive soap. "How do you wash your face, then?" Sehun questions. "Do you have some special water for that?"

The farmer sends him a dry look before leaving him alone to unpack and it’s the start of Sehun’s downfall.

He finds out that he has no internet connection when he is about to post a shady picture on Instagram, and when he tries to call his CEO, ready to beg for someone to come and pick him back up, he discovers that his phone has no signal either.

His brand new white Gucci limited edition loafers get ruined when he accidentally steps in a puddle, and the warmth of the August day is making him sweat and attracts flies. It doesn’t make him any happier to know that he doesn’t even have access to running water.

His plan had originally been to wait a few days to allow his staff to come back for him (which they would definitely do), but after knowing that the farm has zero internet, no shower and toilets without plumbing, those plans have all been cancelled. His phone not working means that he can’t simply call a taxi, but he’s convinced that there is definitely some other way he can get back to Seoul before the day is over --even if that means that he’ll have to hop on some old, rickety country bus.

The person in charge of him, who Sehun eventually finds by the sheep, just shakes his head.

"The only bus stop we have is several miles away and the buses only go twice a week."

"But how do you leave the place, then?"

The man points to a small house on the other end of the farm. It looks to be some sort of garage.

"Cars."

After that Sehun spends the afternoon locked up in his tiny room glaring angrily at the wall and feeling bad for himself. Someone comes by a few hours later, telling him to come to the kitchen and peel some carrots if he wants dinner, but Sehun doesn’t answer and the person mutters something about not being paid enough.

By morning he’s made a plan.

The cars obviously belong to someone working there, and while Sehun doesn’t have a driving license of his own yet, he also knows that someone here obviously does. He also knows that they are bound to do their shopping for things that can’t be found on the farm semi-regularly, and that’s where his plan begins.

Hopefully he can convince the people here that he’s a trust worthy person, come with them to the closest town, and then flee. The only downside to his plan is that it requires him to actually work and get them to trust him, and that means that he can’t stay locked up in his room with a mosquito spray.

But if escaping means that he will have to go all out "old MacDonald had a farm", then Sehun is going to be the best farmer there ever was.

 

***

 

Half a day hasn’t even passed before Sehun is forbidden from ever stepping a foot on the rice field again.

"You weren’t supposed to remove almost all the growing rice seeds when I told you to thin them out! I wanted the rice to not be crowded! I didn’t want you to wipe out an entire field!"

He isn’t more successful at cutting down crops after almost killing the person next to him when he’d slipped and brought the scythe down a centimetre away from his head. It results in a lot of screaming and the threat of the farmer quitting unless Sehun disappears from his sight and is never allowed to hold a scythe again. Sehun believes the person in question to be a little dramatic, because it wasn’t like Sehun had tried to harm him _on purpose_ , but the manager agrees.

Eventually he’s transferred to take care of the chickens.

Sehun is sulking, heading to the chicken coop to wait for the instructor when he accidentally bumps into something while turning a corner and slips. He only has the time to let out a small sound of surprise before he goes sprawling onto his knees, hands sinking deep into the soft mud.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?”

Sehun realises that he hadn’t crashed into something but rather someone.

The voice is soft and smooth, and Sehun is about to give the owner of it his coldest glare when he looks up and sees what is beyond a doubt the most handsome person he’s ever seen. Blood rushes to his ears as he takes in dark hair and kind eyes, and then his heart starts hammering in his chest like it’s never done before in all his years of living.

What should have been a glare turns into open-mouthed gawk, and he wonders what an angel is doing in the middle of the farm. The only thing that stops Sehun from outright drooling is when the man takes a step back and Sehun notices that he’s wearing the ugliest pair of shoes he’s ever seen in his entire life.

Sehun is caught between staring at the man’s beautiful face and the horror that is staring back at him in form of a pair of yellow polka dotted rubber boots. Sehun lets out a whimper and wonders if this trip is going to ruin him sexually, but the man misunderstands it and looks him up and down, eyebrows furrowed on his face.

Sehun tries to form words, to introduce himself and ask if they can maybe kiss a little, but before he has the chance to, the man helps to pull him onto his feet. He does so with surprising ease and Sehun thinks that it’s unfair that the stranger is blessed with both good looks _and_ muscles.

“Are you hurt?”

Sehun is torn between answering _no, thank you_ and thinking _those shoes are ugly_ but with his mind still traumatised by the polka dots, a mixture between the two slips out.

“No, ugly."

There’s a moment of silence where the man just stares at him in surprise at the unexpected insult and Sehun freezes, brain catching up with his words. Then a fire spreads over his skin, and he doesn’t have to look in a mirror to know that he’s blushing in a way that he hasn’t since he was an awkward twelve-year-old.

Before the farmer has the chance to respond --to yell at him probably--, Sehun does what any respectable adult would do.

He bolts.

The man calls after him, but Sehun ignores him because the only thing worse than accidentally insulting someone who was obviously your soulmate, is running away and then getting caught. It’s by pure accident that he ends up right by the chicken coop and scares the person who had been tasked with instructing him half to death.

"Are you alright?" The farmer asks worriedly.

Sehun wants to sink through the mud and disappear.

"No. I think I just made my soulmate hate me."

 

***

 

According to Kyungsoo --the farmer who had helped him with the chickens--, his soulmate’s name is Junmyeon and is three years older than him. He usually works with the vegetables, but helps with a little bit of everything since he is the farm owner’s nephew.

Sehun grills Kyungsoo about everything he knows about him, which is disappointingly little, and learns that Junmyeon had just returned from a small trip and that that was the reason Sehun hadn’t seen him around before. Sehun just nods at the information, but it isn’t until he starts seeing Junmyeon everywhere that he realises that he will probably be bumping into him again very soon unless he starts avoiding him.

And while Sehun wants nothing more than to speak to Junmyeon again, apologise and maybe also touch his muscles if the opportunity arises, he doesn’t want to step a foot in his direction until he stops getting uncharacteristically and unnecessarily flustered whenever he just as much as thinks of Junmyeon.

He needs a strategy, and Kyungsoo, who had said that he could come to him with any questions he might have, becomes his advisor in the matter since Google isn’t available.

"You know," Kyungsoo says, "when I said you could come to me if you needed help, I expected it to have to do with chickens, not with your love life."

Sehun pouts.

"I don’t _need_ help with the chickens," Sehun says, which is definitely a lie. Half of the chickens terrify him to his bones but he has too much pride to admit that to Kyungsoo. "I need your help with _this_."

"You need help to woo Junmyeon?"

" _Yes_."

Kyungsoo turns back to the old water pump. It groans as he latches onto the handle and Sehun watches as a small stream of water pours out, longing for a cold shower.

"You can always attempt to charm him with pick-up lines, I guess. That usually works in the movies."

Sehun is sceptical.

"What pick-up lines?"

"I don’t know. On a scale of one to ten you’re a nine and I’m the one that you need?"

Sehun splutters angrily.

"I am not a one! I’m an eleven!"

Sehun goes back to watching Junmyeon from afar after that and attempting to take care of the chickens which proves to be difficult. They tend to keep mostly together, but the cock who Sehun had suitably named Jongin keeps running off and attacking him whenever he gets too close. He proves to be extra difficult when Sehun tries to get him into the coop as the day approaches an end and disappears, leaving Sehun running around half the farm in fear that he will never find him again.

Sehun is jogging around the greenhouses when he almost crashes into someone again, and lets out a swear as he wonders how the hell it’s possible to have such bad luck that he nearly bumps into someone twice in under a week. Thankfully he avoids going sprawling into the mud this time and instead only stumbles slightly, a hand reaching out to steady him.

"I’m-- Oh."

Sehun is convinced that he’s the punchline of some bad cosmic joke when he looks up to see Junmyeon’s perfect face for the second time in under a week, looking at him with surprise and a bit caution.

Sehun panics.

"Sorry! I was just looking for my cock!"

The only thought on his mind is to not be accidentally rude, but it takes him about half a second to wish that he’d never opened his mouth in the first place, ears turning red.

"Not like that, though! I mean an actual cock! A rooster!"

If Sehun hadn’t ruined any chances with Junmyeon last time after calling him ugly, he had definitely ruined them now.

He expects Junmyeon to glare at him and then wander off, but to his surprise Junmyeon lets out a small laugh that has Sehun staring at him in wonder, the previous cautious look on Junmyeon’s face gone.

"You mean Hyuk?"

Sehun stares at Junmyeon in confusion for a moment before realising that that is probably the official name of the cock.

"Yes. He disappeared."

Junmyeon points to a few plants behind him, and Sehun notices that his hands are covered in soil from probably working with them. It isn’t nearly as off-putting as Sehun thinks it should be.

"He’s probably by the cucumbers. That’s his normal hiding place when he doesn’t want to be locked up for the night. You think he should have learned by now that it’s not a rather good one, but apparently not."

"Thank you," Sehun says, probably the first sane thing he’s ever said to Junmyeon, and feels momentarily proud.

Junmyeon just nods, giving him a smile again, and Sehun’s heart nearly bursts.

For the next few days Sehun stops going to great lengths to avoid him, feeling like some of their disastrous first meeting had been put behind them, but still flushes whenever he sees Junmyeon and sometimes even gets a smile from him. The problem with how he’s going to woo Junmyeon or get himself to act cool around him still pathetically remains though, and with no one else to help him with the matter he ends up asking Kyungsoo for help once again.

This time his advice is to give Junmyeon chocolate, which according to him is fool proof, and while Sehun is hesitant about the idea at first, it sticks.

He can leave some chocolate along with a note in Junmyeon’s room since he won’t have the courage to give it to his face, and hope that it will charm Junmyeon and make him like him.

It all sounds like a great idea until rummages through his bags after something sugary and sweet and only finds a half-eaten and melted snickers bar. After that he heads to the kitchen, thinking that there must surely be something better there, but all he acquires in the kitchen is a carrot.

Sehun considers pulling the whole thing off, but he doesn’t have any other ideas and there is no way he is ever going to say the pick-up line Kyungsoo had suggested, so he sticks to it.

He makes sure Junmyeon is out before opening the door to the room Kyungsoo had said was his and placing the chocolate and carrot on the bed. It’s only then that he realises that he’s forgotten to write a note, but since he doesn’t dare to linger he hopes Junmyeon will simply understand who it’s from and rushes back to the chicken coop where Jongin is stirring trouble like always.

Sehun spends the rest of the day imagining scenarios of what will happen after Junmyeon finds the gifts, and while he’s never given chocolate before and doesn’t know how people usually respond to it, he hopes it will involve a lot of kissing.

What happens is a little bit different.

Sehun is getting help from Kyungsoo to gather all the chickens together when Jinhyun makes a sudden appearance, face looking grimmer than usual. Sehun is worried for a second before he realises that the man is focused on Kyungsoo, and not on him.

"Do you have any space left in your room?"

Kyungsoo stops making cooing noises at a hen and looks quizzical.

"Why?"

"There’s been an ant invasion in one of the rooms. Someone left chocolate in Junmyeon’s bed and it just about attracted all the insects on the farm. There’s melted chocolate all over the bed and ants crawling up and down the walls. It’ll be impossible for him to sleep there for the night and all the other rooms are occupied."

Sehun chokes on air.

Kyungsoo glances over at him and there is an odd light to his eyes that would have worried him had Sehun not been busy wishing he was dead.

" _I_ don’t have enough room, but Sehun does. Junmyeon can stay with him for the night."

Sehun chokes some more, but this time it’s accompanied by the panicked look he sends Kyungsoo while Kyungsoo just smiles at him.

Jinhyun agrees since he doesn’t have much of a choice, and Sehun nearly kills Kyungsoo after he leaves --both for making him think the chocolate thing had been a good idea but also because he _just_ _betrayed him_.

"Why did you do that?!" Sehun feels a lot like crying. "Do you want to ruin any chance I have with him?! Junmyeon probably hates me now!"

That is if Junmyeon even figured out that the chocolate came from him in the first place, which Sehun desperately hopes that he hadn’t. It’s one thing to accidentally call someone ugly but it’s another entirely to ruin someone’s room.

"You won’t get another chance to be close to him like this." Kyungsoo explains calmly. "This is your chance to seduce him."

And though Sehun thinks he _really_ shouldn’t listen after what happened with the chocolate, he still doesn’t have anywhere else to turn for help.

Sehun pouts.

"How?"

 

***

 

Sehun is wearing the tightest underwear he owns --a pair of black briefs that hugs his thighs and ass like he’d been born in them-- and one Kyungsoo’s much smaller shirts that rides up to show his belly-button when Sehun hears the knock on his door --two hours after he’d begun to wonder if Junmyeon had found somewhere else to sleep.

His stomach flips.

"Can I come in?" Junmyeon’s voice is muffled slightly by the door, but there’s no mistaking the voice for someone other than Junmyeon. It’s calming and melodic, and Sehun can’t help but wonder what Junmyeon would sound like singing.

Sehun nods before realising that Junmyeon can’t see him.

"Umm...Yes."

The door cracks open slightly and Junmyeon’s face comes into view.

His hair is damp and combed back, curling slightly at his nape, and Sehun wonders if the reason he was so late was because he’d gone bathing.

Somehow Junmyeon manages to look better in a simple black t-shirt than most people Sehun has seen dressed up.

He doesn’t know if it’s because it’s his first time seeing Junmyeon during the night or because it’s their first time face to face in a while, but Sehun feels uncharacteristically shy, not noticing that the man is carrying two cups of steaming beverage in his hands.

"I b--"

Junmyeon looks up and stops.

Sehun thinks he sees Junmyeon’s eyes darken for a second or two but when he blinks they’re back to normal and Sehun doesn’t know if he feels relieved or disappointed.

"I brought some tea." Junmyeon tries again, but this time there’s a small and mysterious smile on his lips as he scans Sehun’s face, seemingly searching for something. "I know our first meeting wasn’t the best, so I hope this can be a peace offering and also a thank you for letting me sleep here since I can’t stay in my room."

There is an almost indulgent tone to his voice, but Sehun doesn’t think anything of it as Junmyeon stretches out a hand, offering him a cup.

Sehun reaches out to accept it and shivers as his fingers brush Junmyeon’s warm ones.

"Thanks," he chokes out, skin tingling, and yells at himself that this is the right time to apologise for their first meeting, too.

Before he has a chance to, Junmyeon gestures to the bag slung across his shoulders.

"I brought a sleeping bag. I’ll sleep on the floor."

Sehun stares in Junmyeon in surprise.

He knows that the courteous thing would be to offer to sleep there instead, especially since he is the reason Junmyeon can’t sleep in his bed in the first place, but there is no way in hell Sehun is going to spend the night on a floor that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years.

Especially not when the only small blessing in the otherwise Spartan room was that the bed, for all its downsides, was a small double. Before he can stop himself, he’s already blurted out words.

"The floor’s _dirty_. And hard. The bed’s large enough for both of us. It won’t bother me."

It’s the opposite really, but he won’t tell Junmyeon that.

Junmyeon looks surprised at his small outburst, but then smiles.

"Alright."

Sehun gets up and walks over to his bag, Kyungsoo’s shirt tight enough that he knows he won’t be able to sleep in it, and changes into a larger one. He thinks he feels Junmyeon’s eyes on him the entire time he’s changing, but when he turns back Junmyeon is sitting on the bed, unlacing his shoes, and the whole thing looks so domestic it makes Sehun blush.

Sehun makes his way over to the bed, not knowing if he should be cursing Kyungsoo or thanking him, and gets in under the covers. The bed is large enough that Sehun doesn’t come into contact with the older, but small enough that he can still feel Junmyeon’s warmth and wonders if he will be able to sleep anything during the night.

Sehun opens his mouth to say goodnight, but like always when he is around Junmyeon, something entirely different comes out.

"You’re not ugly."

To his surprise the words make Junmyeon chuckle.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. It’s just…It was your shoes. I got side-tracked. You’re not ugly at all."

"You’re not ugly yourself, either."

"I know," Sehun answers, because he does know, but even so hearing it from Junmyeon is somehow nicer than hearing it from anyone else.

"Goodnight, Sehun." Junmyeon says, and Sehun hears him turn and can only guess that he’s now facing him.

Sehun has never felt more awake.

"Goodnight, Junmyeon." He answers, and can’t stop the smile from breaking out across his face even if he tries.

 

***

 

The cock wakes them both up with his shrill call around 6, and with nothing other to do Sehun follows Junmyeon to the kitchen where Junmyeon makes him coffee and Sehun listens to him talk.

He learns that Junmyeon has an older brother and a love for dad jokes that Sehun probably finds cuter than he should, and by the time the sun is high enough in the sky that he knows that he will have to go and let out the chickens, Sehun wishes nothing more than that he could spend the entire day talking to Junmyeon.

He finds himself standing by the stove half-way through the day in hopes of repaying Junmyeon by bringing him some tea, but the tea turns out too bitter and in the end Sehun gives up and makes his way to where Junmyeon is standing by the tomato plants and simply gives him a bottle of water.

Junmyeon looks a little bit confused by the action, gaze darting down to the water bottle he has tied to his belt just like every other farmer and then to the cloudy sky, but he accepts it with a smile nonetheless.

For the next few days it becomes something of an unspoken habit; Junmyeon making him coffee in the morning --which if Sehun hadn’t already been convinced that Junmyeon was his soulmate would have definitely made him think so-- and Sehun repaying him by bringing him water sometime during the day.

Kyungsoo seems to find it all very funny, convinced that the only reason they are even talking in the first place is because of him, and Sehun wonders why he hadn’t seen how evil the other was from the start. Only thinking of Baekhyun and Kyungsoo in the same room makes him shiver.

A little more than a week passes, and though he does miss running water and working wifi, he finds himself unsettled when Jinhyun comes up to him one day and tells him that he’s got a call from his management. Sehun blinks when hears it, having entirely forgotten about his plans to escape the farm, and wonders how someone even has a signal.

Jinhyun leads him to a room he’s never been in before where an old landline telephone sits on a table.

"Hello?" Sehun answers hesitantly.

"Are you ready to go home tomorrow?"

"What?"

"I’ve been told you’ve been working hard and since you have a scheduled activity in japan in two weeks, it might be time for you to come home and practice! What do you say?"

His CEO sounds happy, expecting Sehun to sound the same, but even though Sehun has been looking forward to going home since he first stepped a foot on the farm, the prospect of actually going home --of leaving Junmyeon-- sounds unappealing.

"I don’t think it’s a good idea." Sehun mutters, stomach in knots. "I still need to take care of the chickens."

"You need to practice, too."

"You can come and pick me up in a week. That will still give me plenty of time."

Sehun hangs up with a mood that’s dropped drastically, and the weather seems to match it, grey clouds upon grey clouds. Sehun finds himself walking to the field before he even knows it.

Junmyeon looks up as he walks closer, looking happy, and stops whatever it is he had doing. The smile on his face fades as he takes in Sehun’s frown.

"Sehun, wha--"

Rain suddenly pours down on both of them, heavy and relentless, and the words on Junmyeon’s lips fade away. Sehun squeaks, hands flying up to cover his head as cold summer rain drenches them both. Sehun feels Junmyeon grab onto his wrist and a second later they are both running, Sehun stumbling after Junmyeon and trying his best not to fall.

They wind up in one of the green houses, covered by a glass roof and glass walls, but the rain makes it impossible to see anything other than the raindrops falling against the windows. The only thing audible except the rain is their laboured breaths.

Sehun is still holding onto Junmyeon’s hand, and he feels like he just showered with his clothes on. His hair and clothes are both clinging onto his skin, and Junmyeon isn’t looking any better --the rain having turned Junmyeon’s white shirt see-through.

Underneath the fabric Sehun can spot perfect abs, and this is what causes Sehun to finally break.

"That is not fair!" Sehun exclaims, a ball of pent-up sexual frustration.

Junmyeon looks confused but Sehun doesn’t care, a dam having been broken inside of him and words spilling out.

"I spent an entire evening freezing in briefs and Kyungsoo’s uncomfortable shirt only for it to fall short! You and your abs are not allowed to do this to me without even trying!"

Junmyeon blinks, looking startled, but Sehun doesn’t even have to time to regret his words and bolt again before Junmyeon eyes turn soft and he looks at Sehun in a way that would have made him preen had he not been so annoyed.

"You were trying to seduce me back then? I just thought you were warm. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Yes," Sehun says, still annoyed, but the scowl on his face disappears when Junmyeon presses his lips against his.

Sehun makes a sound of surprise, but answers the kiss eagerly; grabbing onto Junmyeon’s arm and feeling the muscles he had wanted to touch since day one.

When Junmyeon pulls away, he leans his forehead against Sehun’s and Sehun swoons.

"You like me?"

Junmyeon lets out a small laugh.

"I thought you were cute even after our first meeting, but even more so after you got so flustered when you were looking for Hyuk. It’s probably a good thing Kyungsoo told me you left chocolate in my room as a gift and not anything else, or I would have probably thought you hated me."

Sehun stops swooning.

"What? Kyungsoo told you?"

"Minseok saw you getting out of my room and told me about it. Kyungsoo overheard him and said that you'd only left chocolate in my room because you liked me and was trying to be nice only for it to go wrong. It was a mess, but it was an adorable one."

Sehun flushes, any childhood dreams of becoming a stealthy spy dying miserably, but is efficiently side-tracked when Junmyeon kisses him again. His mouth is warm and soft, and erases any chill the cold rain had left behind. Sehun enjoys the kiss for a few more long seconds before he pulls away, the problem he had forgotten before remembered.

"I’m going back to Seoul next week, though! How is this going to work if you’re a farmer here and I live in the capital? I might be able to take a few weeks but I don’t think I can live without internet for the rest of my life!"

"I’m not a farmer."

For the first time, Sehun wonders if Junmyeon is in his right mind.

"What?"

"I live in Seoul," Junmyeon explains, thumbs running circles on his hand and making Sehun wish he would never stop. "I only come out here every summer because I get to spend time helping my uncle and enjoy the summer."

"You’re not a farmer?"

Sehun feels blindsided for a second, wondering how that topic had never come up, but then he realises that Junmyeon living in Seoul means that they can go on cute coffee dates, go ice skating during the winter and Sehun gets to have Junmyeon even without the evil chickens.

Sehun smiles, thinking that Junmyeon living in Seoul also means something else.

"I hope you know that being my boyfriend comes with certain responsibilities."

Junmyeon kisses his forehead.

"I’m sure I can handle them."

 

***

 

"Thank you," Sehun says, taking a sip of his hot coffee and nearly moaning.

The watch on his arm lets him know that it’s three o’clock in the morning and that he has one hour until he has to get ready to stand on stage.

"If I had known that being your boyfriend meant that I’d have to get up at 2 am in the mornings to get you coffee I’m not sure I would have bothered," Junmyeon says, but there’s an indulgent smile on his face that lets Sehun know he’s joking.

Sehun kisses him with coffee stained lips.

"Love you, too."

 

 

 


End file.
